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Just another WordPress siteFri, 22 Sep 2017 17:30:55 +0000enhourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.2Readout of President Ashraf Ghani’s remarks to the 72nd United Nations General Assemblyhttp://dawatmedia.com/afghanistan/readout-of-president-ashraf-ghanis-remarks-to-the-72nd-united-nations-general-assembly/
http://dawatmedia.com/afghanistan/readout-of-president-ashraf-ghanis-remarks-to-the-72nd-united-nations-general-assembly/#respondWed, 20 Sep 2017 00:31:14 +0000http://dawatmedia.com/?p=1240Readout of President Ashraf Ghani’s remarks to the 72nd United Nations General Assembly:

Bis- Allah Rahman wa Rahim:

Mr. President, Distinguished heads of state and government.

As I stand here before you today, I am reminded that the wise men and women of 1945 displayed a unique capacity to learn from and act on lessons of history. Shaped by the Great Depression, and tempered by the carnage of World War 2, they established global order through institutions that would provide security and stability for generations to come. The UN, the IMF, the World Bank and other organizations were founded to coordinate responses to international challenges and to make crimes against humanity a thing of the past.

There can be little doubt that today, the scale, scope and speed of their imagination and efforts have not yet been matched. But future historians will judge these institutions on how they respond to the challenges of today, and the challenges we must confront in the future.

As global leaders, we seek certainty and familiarity in the rules of the game which dominated the 20th century. But in today’s ever-changing world, the dominant contextual characteristic defining our times is extreme uncertainty. It is easy to illustrate this uncertainty by looking at threats we are facing to our economies, our security, and our values.

There is an emerging consensus that advanced economies have yet to arrive at “proper growth models” to overcome high unemployment, decreasing income and wealth inequality. The threat of economic crisis, therefore, still hangs over us.

Sixteen years after the tragedy of September 11, the threat of violence by non-state actors has taken the form of a Fifth Wave of political violence. Driven by transnational terrorist networks, criminal organizations, cyber-crime and state sponsorship of terror, this Fifth Wave promises to be a decades-long threat to international security rather than a passing phenomenon. In the 20th century, the world came together to push back the spread of fascism so that democratic freedoms could be secured. Today, these very freedoms are under attack from global terrorism. Terrorism is not only an attack on human life and basic freedoms, but an attack on the compact of citizenship–an attack on the nation state’s relationship with its people which makes democratic societies unique, fair and free. We must confront the threat of terrorism as a united force, and meet it with a long-term solution that matches the long-term agenda of the terrorists themselves.

And, lastly, despite the incorporation of tenets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the constitutions of most countries of the world, crimes against humanity still occur with painful regularity. The ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya is especially shocking. Aung San Suu Kyi’s lengthy silence was tragic, as our hopes that an icon of human rights would choose principle over power. I do welcome the chance for Afghanistan to have a seat on the Human Rights Committee in order to have a more central role in discussions on these important issues. As a people who are still experiencing crimes against humanity – the latest being killing of civilians in the Mirza Ulang village and attacks on mosques in Kabul and Herat – we are keen to add our voice in support of Human Rights.

Overcoming the destructive and disruptive patterns of change in the 21st century requires collective and coordinated action at the global, regional, national, local and individual levels. An effective, efficient and respected United Nations is the need of the hour–we must put our 20th century institutions to the test.

Therefore, I congratulate His Excellency Miroslav Lajcak on assuming the Presidency of the 72nd Session of the UNGA. I want to recognize and appreciate the efforts of His Excellency Peter Thomson during the previous session, and I commend His Excellency Secretary General Guterres for launching his reform of the UN.

If the UN did not exist today, we would have to invent it to address the demands of our time. Delivering on the promises of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the context of uncertainty requires reexamination of core functions, re-engineering of business processes, reinvigoration of organizational culture and value, and reform of systems of accountability. If the UN is to be relevant to countries like mine, it must deliver as One UN. But this has not yet been fulfilled. The inherited model of the UN agencies as instruments of technical assistance and capacity building should be subjected to the market test, namely value for money and sustainability of results in comparison to government, private sector and non-governmental modes of delivery. Mutual accountability is a proven mechanism of consolidation and expansion of partnerships, and trust-building.

I am honored to stand before this distinguished assembly to represent and speak for the people of Afghanistan. We have borne adversity, deprivation and drought with dignity; met invasion with valor; defended our homeland with patriotic fervor. Being the frontline state in the global struggle against terrorism and the front line of defense of democratic freedoms, our people and security forces are accomplishing heroic deeds on a daily basis.

We, too–as a nation, a state, and a people–are reinventing ourselves to address the challenges and potential offered to us in the 21st century.

With President Trump’s recent announcement of his strategy to counter terror and stabilize South Asia, Afghanistan’s enduring partnership with the United States and the international community has been renewed and redirected. We welcome this strategy, which has now set us on a pathway to certainty. The Afghan people have looked to the United States for this type of resolve for years.

We now also have an opportunity for a dialogue with our neighbors on how we can work together earnestly to eliminate terrorism and contain extremism. I call upon Pakistan to engage with us on a comprehensive state to state dialogue on peace, security and regional cooperation leading to prosperity.

The Afghan government has proven that we are committed to peace through our own internal processes, as demonstrated by the peace agreement with Hizb-i-Islami. Now, we call on all of our neighbors, near and far, to join us through the Kabul process in our comprehensive quest for peace and regional stability.

However, moving forward, we ask for a change of perspective from our international partners. For too long, the conflict in Afghanistan has been viewed through the prism of civil war. But this war is not within our soil, it is over our soil.

Today, there are over 20 international terrorist groups operating on Afghan soil. The future of Afghanistan matters because we are on the frontlines of the global effort to eradicate the threat of terrorism. Our brave soldiers are fighting and dying for this cause, and the sovereignty of the Afghan nation, every day. Though we may be on the frontlines, the threat knows no boundaries. For terrorist groups who are harbored in the region, an attack in Kabul and an attack in Brussels, Paris, Barcelona, London or anywhere else are equal victories. President Trumps’ new strategy includes the disruption and denial of sanctuary to terrorists whose motives know no boundaries.

However, a strong and enduring commitment from our international partners alone will not ensure our collective success in Afghanistan—the roots of success are indeed within us, as Afghans.

Today, two and a half years into our decade of transformation, we are turning Afghanistan into a platform for stability. The foundation has been laid. We have articulated and are rigorously implementing roadmaps for reform. Namely, we are prosecuting the corrupt, ending corruption in the security sector, replacing systems of patronage with merit-based systems, and making financial processes transparent.

We are also reaching out to those who had previously been excluded from society—young people, the poor, and women. Yet these people are our nations’ source of resilience.

The generation who grew up in the 1990s, which make up the majority of our population, are now being entrusted with wholesale leadership of the country. A generational change is taking place as youth are empowered at every level. This generation will be the one that reforms the government into one that is citizen and service-oriented.

Through unimaginable hardship, women kept the fabric of our communities and societies together even as they fell to shreds. Yet women were relegated to the very bottom of society. This was unacceptable and our nation suffered for it. Today, there are more Afghan women in government, in the workforce, and active in civil society than ever before in Afghan history, yet we still have far to go. At the helm, we have 6 women Ambassadors, and 4 women cabinet members. Simply put, women’s empowerment is crucial to our future.

The poor, along with the women and the youth, are the numerical majorities in Afghanistan that crosses ethnic, linguistic, gender and religious lines. About 40% of Afghans still live below the poverty line. Research shows that poverty perpetuates itself because it affects the scientific make-up of a child’s brain. We must empower the poor. For far too long, they have been the silent majority in our country.

We are recreating the bonds of society in order to change the culture of our state.

And not only are we strengthening our bonds internally, but regionally.

As we look to our neighbors in south and central Asia, we are simultaneously strengthening national, global and regional connectivity. Afghanistan will again become a multi-faceted hub in the 21st century–for transport, energy, water and mining–for the benefit of the entire region’s economic prosperity and security.

And we are already seeing the fruits of our labor. Transmission lines for the Central Asia-South Asia power project are under construction. The Turkmen railway has reached our border. The TAPI natural gas pipeline is under construction.

As a central part of our plan for economic advancement, we continue to work with our regional partners to seek avenues of collaboration.

We can see now, amidst the uncertainties and unique challenges and threats of the 21st century, how Afghanistan has become a conundrum for the 20th century approaches in which the global order tends to still operate within.

While the threat of international terrorism playing out on our soil has dominated the narrative of our country and driven the fate of our people for far too long, we also have enormous potential to be the regional brokers of peace, a hub for economic prosperity, and a beacon of democratic values. The birthplace of Rumi still resounds with messages of love, peace and hope. Afghanistan will, yet again, be the Asian Roundabout for dialogue of civilizations and a model of harmony and culture of tolerance and engagement.

I am confident that our plans and programs for self-reliance and reform, bolstered by the commitment of our international partners, will chart us on the path toward realizing our full potential.

I thank you.

]]>http://dawatmedia.com/afghanistan/readout-of-president-ashraf-ghanis-remarks-to-the-72nd-united-nations-general-assembly/feed/0Message to the world from Mohammed, a Rohingyahttp://dawatmedia.com/world-news/message-to-the-world-from-mohammed-a-rohingya/
http://dawatmedia.com/world-news/message-to-the-world-from-mohammed-a-rohingya/#respondSat, 09 Sep 2017 20:43:03 +0000http://dawatmedia.com/?p=1214

‘Humans are all the same, religions does not make us different … we are all human and all born equal.’

Mohammed Soye [Katie Arnold/Al Jazeera]

by

Mohammed Soye, 33, comes from Buthidaung town in Rakhine State, Myanmar, which he fled 10 days ago.

I was a farmer in Buthidaung township, just like every other Rohingya there. We did not have the right to work or the right to education so we could not get jobs in the police, military or other smart offices. We had to work on the farms, or collect bamboo from the forest.

It was a hand-to-mouth existence, somehow, we survived even though we did not have any freedom – we just got through life, one day at a time.

Two weeks ago, the military and the local Buddhist community came into our village, started shooting at us and setting our houses on fire, one by one. My brother was shot in the side of his face and died there. The rest of us had to run, otherwise, we would have been killed as well.

We did not know where we were headed, we just kept walking for 10 days until we finally found Bangladesh.

My mother is 80 years old, paralysed and suffers from asthma, so I had to carry her the whole way. We crossed three rivers by boat while the rest we did on foot. Sometimes, we would come across the military who would start shooting at us and sometimes we would sleep in the forest where there were lots of wild animals.

So, there were many dangerous obstacles but determination kept us moving and eventually we crossed the border. I feel a lot more comfortable now that I am in Bangladesh. Back home, we could end up dead at any moment. Here, our life is safe.

But still, Bangladesh is totally new for us – we don’t know anything about the country, we are illiterate, and we don’t know what we are supposed to be doing here. So if peace returns to Myanmar, we would prefer to go back home, somewhere familiar.

I know the whole world is watching these images of the Rohingya crisis, yet no one is pressuring the Myanmar government to stop the violence being committed against us. Of course, they don’t actually want to find a solution, otherwise, we would have seen it already, but why aren’t international governments putting pressure on them.

My message to the world is that humans are all the same, religions do not make us different. Buddhists have flesh and blood, just like we do. So if they live peacefully and freely in Myanmar, why can’t we – we are all human and all born equal.

As told to Katie Arnold in Unchi Prank new refugee camp in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

The plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya

An estimated more than 270,000, mainly women and children, have fled to Bangladeshin the last two weeks as a result of indiscriminate violence against civilian populations carried out by the Myanmar army.

The UN and other human rights organisations have warned that the mass exodus following killings, rapes, and burned villages are signs of “ethnic cleansing“, pleading for the international community to pressure Aung San Suu Kyi and her government to end the violence.

Tamin Rahmani has been jailed for his part in the horrific attack (Picture: Kent Police)

A lost girl who stopped to ask men for help was dragged back to a flat and gang-raped.

The three men and a boy who subjected the teenage victim to an ‘abhorrent’ ordeal have been jailed.

The 16-year-old stopped to ask the group for directions in Ramsgate on Sunday, September 18 last year, Kent Police said.Shersha Muslimyar, 21, Tamin Rahmani, 38, Rafiullah Hamidy, 24, and a 17-year-old youth pounced on the girl as she made her way to a friend’s house after a night out.

The men then led her to one of their flats, where she was raped and escorted back out the building.

She was eventually found crying in the street by two members of the public who called the police.

Mugshot of Rafiullah Hamidy who has been jailed following the horrendous rape (Picture: Kent Police)

Detective Inspector Richard Vickery, of Kent Police, said: ‘The victim in this case was a vulnerable teenage girl who was taken advantage of and subjected to some of the most horrendous crimes imaginable.

‘It was late at night, she was lost and she asked a group of men for directions.

‘Rape is an abhorrent crime and the victim has suffered a great deal of emotional harm from the ordeal she was forced to endure.‘Instead they saw an opportunity to fulfil their depraved sexual desires and betrayed the trust she placed in them in the worst possible way.

‘She has displayed tremendous courage in reliving what happened to her, and I would like to personally thank her for having the strength to help bring her offenders to justice.

‘They clearly pose a significant danger to women and children and are fully deserving of the lengthy prison sentences they have received.’

Shershah Muslimyar was one of the men who raped the teenager (Picture: Kent Police)

Thousands of people have signed an online petition calling for the Nobel committee to revoke Aung San Suu Kyi’s peace prize over the Myanmar government’s treatment of its Rohingya Muslims.

But the Norwegian Nobel committee has ruled out any such move, saying only that the work which led to the awarding of the prize was taken into account.

Olav Njolstad, head of the Nobel Institute, said it was impossible to strip a Nobel laureate of an award once it has been bestowed.

“Neither Alfred Nobel’s will nor the statutes of the Nobel Foundation provide for the possibility that a Nobel Prize — whether for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature or peace — can be revoked,” he told AFP.

“Only the efforts made by a laureate before the attribution of a prize are evaluated by the Nobel committee,” he said, and not any subsequent actions.

The Change.Org petition has gathered over 365,000 signatures as of Thursday, reflecting growing outrage over a massive security sweep in Rakhine state by Myanmar forces after a series of deadly ambushes by Rohingya militants.

“The de facto ruler of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi has done virtually nothing to stop this crime against humanity in her country,” the petition says.

Suu Kyi was awarded the prize in 1991, while under house arrest at the hands of Myanmar’s military junta, from which she was released in 2010. She then went on to lead her party through the country’s first credible elections since independence.

But her government has faced international condemnation for the army’s response to the crisis as refugees arrive in Bangladesh with stories of murder, rape and burned villages at the hands of soldiers.

The United Nations said Thursday that about 164,000 mostly Rohingya refugees have escaped to Bangladesh in the past two weeks, meaning more than a quarter of a million have fled since fighting broke out in October.

Suu Kyi lashed out this week at what she called “a huge iceberg of misinformation” over the crisis, “with the aim of promoting the interest of the terrorists”.

The North has tested a hydrogen bomb with “perfect success”, a jubilant newsreader announced.

SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea declared itself a thermonuclear power on Sunday, after carrying out a sixth nuclear test more powerful than any it has previously detonated, presenting President Donald Trump with a potent challenge.

The North has tested a hydrogen bomb with “perfect success”, a jubilant newsreader announced on state television, adding the device could be mounted on a missile.

The test was of a bomb with “unprecedently large power”, she said, and “marked a very significant occasion in attaining the final goal of completing the state nuclear force”.

The broadcaster showed an image of leader Kim Jong-Uns handwritten order for the test to be carried out at noon on September 3.

The announcement came after monitors measured a 6.3-magnitude tremor near the Norths main testing site, which South Korean experts said was five to six times stronger than that from the 10-kiloton test carried out a year ago.

Hours earlier, the North released images of Kim inspecting what it said was a miniaturised H-bomb that could be fitted onto an ICBM, at the Nuclear Weapons Institute.

Hydrogen bombs or H-bombs — also known as thermonuclear devices — are far more powerful than the relatively simple atomic weapons the North was believed to have tested so far.

Whatever the final figure for tests yield turned out to be, said Jeffrey Lewis of the armscontrolwonk website, it was “a staged thermonuclear weapon” which represents a significant advance in its weapons program.

Chinese monitors said they had detected a second quake shortly afterwards of 4.6 magnitude that could be due to a “collapse (cave in)”, suggesting the rock over the underground blast had given way.

Pyongyang has long sought the means to deliver an atomic warhead to the United States, its sworn enemy, and the test will infuriate Washington, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing and others.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said ahead of the announcement that a test would be “absolutely unacceptable”.

South Korean President Moon Jae-In summoned the National Security Council for an emergency meeting and Seouls military raised its alert level.

Super explosive power

Pyongyang triggered a new ramping up of tensions in July, when it carried out two successful tests of an ICBM, the Hwasong-14, which apparently brought much of the US mainland within range.

It has since threatened to send a salvo of rockets towards the US territory of Guam, and last week fired a missile over Japan and into the Pacific, the first time time it has ever acknowledged doing so.

Trump has warned Pyongyang that it faces “fire and fury”, and that Washingtons weapons are “locked and loaded”.

Analysts believe Pyongyang has been developing weapons capability to give it a stronger hand in any negotiations with the US.

“North Korea will continue with their nuclear weapons programme unless the US proposes talks,” Koo Kab-Woo of Seouls University of North Korean Studies told AFP.

He pointed to the fact that Pakistan — whose nuclear programme is believed to have links with the Norths — conducted six nuclear tests in total, and may not have seen a need for any further blasts.

“If we look at it from Pakistans example, the North might be in the final stages” of becoming a nuclear state, he said.

Pictures of Kim at the Nuclear Weapons Institute showed the young leader, dressed in a black suit, examining a metal casing with a shape akin to a peanut shell.

The device was a “thermonuclear weapon with super explosive power made by our own efforts and technology”, KCNA cited Kim as saying, and “all components of the H-bomb were 100 percent domestically made”.

Actually mounting a warhead onto a missile would amount to a significant escalation on the Norths part, as it would create a risk that it was preparing an attack.

Failure of sanctions

The North carried out its first nuclear test in 2006, and successive blasts are believed to have been aimed at refining designs and reliability as well as increasing yield.

Its fifth detonation, in September last year, caused a 5.3 magnitude quake and according to Seoul had a 10-kiloton yield — still less than the 15-kiloton US device which destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.

The North Korean leadership says a credible nuclear deterrent is critical to the nations survival, claiming it is under constant threat from an aggressive United States.

It has been subjected to seven rounds of United Nations Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, but always insists it will continue to pursue them.

Atomic or “A-bombs” work on the principle of nuclear fission, where energy is released by splitting atoms of enriched uranium or plutonium encased in the warhead.

Hydrogen or H-bombs, also known as thermonuclear weapons, work on fusion and are far more powerful, with a nuclear blast taking place first to create the intense temperatures required.

No H-bomb has ever been used in combat, but they make up most of the worlds nuclear arsenals.

A Rohingya boy carries a child on his back and walks through rice fields after crossing over to the Bangladesh side on Sept. 1, 2017. (AP)

Reuters, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Saturday, 2 September 2017

More than 2,600 houses have been burned down in Rohingya-majority areas of Myanmar’s northwest in the last week, the government said on Saturday, in one of the deadliest bouts of violence involving the Muslim minority in decades.

About 58,600 Rohingya have fled the violence into Bangladesh from Myanmar, according to UN refugee agency UNHCR, as aid workers there struggle to cope.

Myanmar officials have blamed group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army for the burning of the homes.

The group claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks on security posts last week that prompted clashes and a large army counteroffensive.

But Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh say a campaign of arson and killings by the Myanmar army is aimed at trying to force them out.

The treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar’s roughly 1.1 million Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accused by Western critics of not speaking out for a minority that has long complained of persecution.

Jordan’s King Abdullah met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Monday. (Reuters)

Reuters, Ramallah, West Bank

Monday, 7 August 2017

Jordan’s King Abdullah met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Monday for the first time in five years to discuss tensions at a Jerusalem holy site and wider political developments.

While the two leaders meet fairly frequently in Amman and other regional capitals, Abdullah has not visited Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, since December 2012.

The king flew in by helicopter, with the visit coordinated with Israeli authorities which control all entrance and exit points to the West Bank, including its 150 km (93 mile) border with Jordan and the air space above.

The visit comes two weeks since a surge in violence in Jerusalem after Israel installed metal detectors at Muslim entrances to the Al Aqsa mosque compound, following the killing of two Israeli policemen.

The change in security led to days of protests and clashes between Palestinian worshippers and Israeli security forces before Israel, after consultations with Jordan, decided to remove the metal detectors and other measures.

Jordan has been the custodian of Jerusalem’s Muslim holy sites since the 1920s. The compound, which sits on a tree-lined plateau in the Old City, is also revered by Jews.

“We discussed all issues of mutual interest and we agreed to form a crisis committee that will continue contacts to evaluate what has happened, the lessons to be learned and the challenges we may face at Al Aqsa mosque,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Reyad Al-Maliki told reporters after the meeting.

Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 and has growing, if little discussed, economic ties with its neighbour, often plays a mediating role in the region.

With a large percentage of Jordan’s population made up of Palestinians, and Jordan sharing a border with the West Bank, which the Palestinians want for their own state together with East Jerusalem and Gaza, its position is sensitive.

Maliki said Abbas and Abdullah also discussed U.S.-led efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which have been suspended for the past three years, and stated that Israel must “recognise the principle of a two-state solution and end provocative settlement activity that is designed to prevent the establishment of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.”

President Donald Trump’s regional envoy, Jason Greenblatt, has made several trips to Amman, Ramallah and Jerusalem this year to try to find common ground and Maliki said U.S. envoys were expected to visit again in the coming days but there is little sign of enthusiasm on anyone’s part to restart talks.

Abdullah is also playing a role in liaising with Egypt and others to see if long-standing differences between Abbas’s Western-backed Fatah party and the rival Hamas Islamist movement can be resolved and Maliki said the issue was discussed.

Hamas, which won the last parliamentary elections held in the Palestinian territories in 2005, seized full control of Gaza after a struggle with Fatah in 2007.

Over the past several months, Abbas, as head of the Palestinian Authority, has stepped up pressure on Hamas, cutting off salaries for civil servants in Gaza, limiting payments for electricity imports and some medicines.

The aim appears to be to oust Hamas from power, but there is little sign of that happening and efforts are being made by regional powers to resolve the internal fighting.

Qatar has described a new blacklist released by Saudi Arabia and its allies as a “disappointing surprise”, saying it was doing all it could to fight extremism.

Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed Al Thani, Qatar’s communications director, said the decision by the four Arab states to add 18 groups and individuals allegedly linked to Qatar to their “terrorist” list had no basis in fact.

“It comes as a disappointing surprise that the blockading countries are still pursuing this story as part of their smear campaign against Qatar,” he said in a statement to Reuters news agency on Wednesday.

The move by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain on Tuesday came despite mounting international pressure to compromise in their weeks-old boycott of their fellow US ally.

The new names include nine entities in Yemen and Libya, and add to a previous blacklist of 59 individuals and 12 groups issued by the four states last month.

Sheikh Saif said: “This latest list provides further evidence that the blockading countries are not committed to the fight against terrorism.

“All individuals with links to terrorism in Qatar have been prosecuted. We encourage the blockading countries to spend less time on drafting these fabricated lists and more time on implementing measures to counter the threat of extremism in their own countries.”

He said Qatar constantly reviews its anti-terror laws to “remain on the front foot in the fight against extremism and terror financing”.

Gargash’s opinion

For his part, Anwar Gargash, UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, said via Twitter on Wednesday that it is important to look beyond “crisis” and to think of it as a “new set of relations in [the] Gulf replacing old ones”.

He said the current state was set to continue and that “we have to go on without Qatar”.

Saudi Arabia and its allies have been boycotting Qatar since June 5 in the region’s worst diplomatic crisis in years.

Accusing Qatar of financing terrorism, they sealed the emirate’s only land border, ordered its citizens to leave and closed their airspace and waters to Qatari flights and shipping.

They want Qatar to cut back ties with Iran, close down a Turkish military base in Qatar and shut the Al Jazeera TV channel, which they view as critical of their governments.

Qatar has dismissed the demands as a violation of its sovereignty and has received significant support from its ally Turkey.

Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, last week spent four days in the region trying to broker a settlement of the crisis. He has voiced satisfaction with Qatar’s efforts to address any suspicion of terror funding.

On the other hand, after talks with Federica Mogherini, the EU diplomatic chief, on Tuesday, Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign Mmnister, gave warning that the four governments would accept no compromise in their dispute with Qatar.

“We cannot compromise with any form of terrorism, we cannot compromise or enter into any form of negotiations,” he said.

In Tuesday’s statement, the four countries accused Qatari, Kuwaiti and Yemeni nationals of helping to raise funds for al-Qaeda fighters.

Their blacklist now include three Yemeni charities, three Libyan media outlets, two armed groups and a religious foundation, some of which are already subject to US sanctions.